When you take a look at the various survey methodologies that are available in the marketplace today, what do you see? For the most part, you see serious limitations. Most have poor response rates so the ability to target participants and respondents is almost nil. Given that low response rates tend to produce “far ends of the spectrum” influences (disproportionate responses from the those who love you and those who are giving you one last chance to get it right), the results are seldom-accurate reflections of your entire customer base. Because many tend to be affected by unseen influences, accuracy is undermined even further. And, in the majority of cases, customers simply don’t like surveys. But we found a way to eliminate the flaws, the weaknesses and the unwillingness to respond. Take a look at how our survey compares to the customer satisfaction surveys of the past.

Paper Surveys:The only good thing about paper surveys is that they are inexpensive. Unfortunately, they are also boring, commonly associated with junk mail, and downright unreliable. Most customers, if they respond at all, will rush through the survey just to get it over with. Extremely low response rates - normally less than 10% - make it impossible to target any particular customer type or group (such as your top-revenue accounts). Add in inaccuracies brought about by patterned responses and comparison of current to previous answers, all wrapped around the effects of far end of the spectrum respondents, and the results are utterly unreliable for accurately benchmarking customer sentiments.

Telephone Surveys:Let's face it, no one likes being disturbed with telephone surveys. They are highly intrusive, conducted at the interviewers convenience, not yours, and more commonly associated with telemarketing than with customer research. Less than half of all customers are even willing to participate in this type of sample customer satisfaction survey, and only then to the extent that the time requirement is five minutes or less. This means you get superficial information, at best.

Then there is the Cassandra Phenomenon, which states that "in a survey environment where the respondent believes their identity is known, a strong positive bias filters into responses." In practice, many people have concerns over the possible consequences or ramifications of voicing critical commentary and having their name attached to it. Fear of being confronted with those replies, or being asked to defend or explain them, propels many people to soften their replies. Scores tend to inflate, and the overall results produce a rose-colored view of reality. It's not that people lie; they just stop short of telling you what is really on their mind. (For a more detailed explanation of this issue, click here.)

Internet Surveys:When they were first introduced, Internet Surveys were seen as cutting edge, fresh and exciting. Today they are everywhere, wildly overused, and a methodology whose novelty has worn off, to the point that they are commonly associated with Spam than with customer communication. In 1995, the average response rate to web based surveys was right around 40%.By 2005, that number had dropped to 25%. Today, response rates have dropped to around 10% and continue to fall. Often constructed as a written survey that happens to be on a computer screen, they still represent a small advantage over paper, but the advantage there is fading fast.

And Then There is … InfoQuest!Take any of the available survey methods, put their performance up against the InfoQuest box, and there is simply no comparison. It is a one-of-a-kind survey that looks like a game, but collects important, highly targeted and extremely accurate data:

We have the highest average response rate in the world - 72% in North America and 70% worldwide. No other survey enables you to so efficiently focus resources on your top revenue-producing accounts.

You can pose as many as 50-60 questions without loss of response rate,

You get fully attributable results, by account and by individual customer, collected in a manner that lets you clinically see your business through your customer’s eyes.

We mitigated patterned responses and compared answers produces much more accurate results.

And because most respondents tend to assume that the survey is anonymous, we even figured out how to defuse the bias inducing effects of the Cassandra Phenomenon.

Go shopping for a customer satisfaction survey and you’ll find thousands, all doing – and not doing – the same thing. Then there’s InfoQuest , the only one of its kind. You may find cheaper. You may find faster. But no matter how long you look, you won;t find better.